measurement ton

ton1

(Brit) Also called long ton. a unit of weight equal to 2240 pounds or 1016.046909 kilograms

2.

(US) Also called short ton, net ton. a unit of weight equal to 2000 pounds or 907.184 kilograms

3.

Also called metric ton, tonne. a unit of weight equal to 1000 kilograms

4.

Also called freight ton. a unit of volume or weight used for charging or measuring freight in shipping. It depends on the type of material being shipped but is often taken as 40 cubic feet, 1 cubic metre, or 1000 kilograms: freight is charged at £40 per ton of 1 cubic metre

5.

Also called measurement ton, shipping ton. a unit of volume used in shipping freight, equal to 40 cubic feet, irrespective of the commodity shipped

6.

Also called displacement ton. a unit used for measuring the displacement of a ship, equal to 35 cubic feet of sea water or 2240 pounds

7.

Also called register ton. a unit of internal capacity of ships equal to 100 cubic feet

ton

n.

late 14c., tonne, unit for measuring the carrying capacity of a ship, originally "space occupied by a tun or cask of wine," thus identical to tun (q.v.). The two words were not differentiated until 1680s. The measure of weight is first recorded late 15c.; the spelling ton is from 1530s, and became firmly established 18c.